By AZRIEL OLMEDO

Grammarly is a free-to-use website that was made to fix any document for proper grammar, punctuation and sentence structures. The site also gives better synonyms to use for words that do not fit the subject of the text. 

Even though it can do everything from spell checking to word choice, it cannot be used to its fullest potential without the premium version of the application. However, some will not go the extra mile to pay $20 every month for it. 

Well, you’re in luck! If you recall, on April 2019, all students should have received an announcement through Gmail that revealed “the good people at Redlands Unified School District have partnered with [Grammarly] to offer their members a premium account.” This is a big deal and should be taken advantage of by every student, as Grammarly can be used as a website or downloaded as a software.

This rare opportunity gives students access to premium features, such as thorough descriptions of why a sentence fragment is incorrect. The writer can choose their intended writing style so Grammarly can edit the text efficiently and vocabulary enhancement suggests alternatives for overused terms. As a bonus, Grammarly can also run a plagiarism check, which searches over a billion pages across the web to see if your text has been used in other works.

For those who enjoy sprinkling unique words in their text, Grammarly compares your writing with other users to score your vocabulary and legibility. All it takes is an account registration and students can start writing and editing like a pro. To make things easier, click on ‘Continue with Google’ to speed-up the process when logging in for the first time. Remember to sign in with your school email, as the premium accounts have been given to those specifically.

Speaking of email, Grammarly sends you a “Weekly Writing Update” to show your progress and level of productivity on the site. The weekly update also shows your top three mistakes overall and gives you information that can help fix those mistakes.

Opportunities like this should not be brushed off. Grammarly is a must-have writing tool that joins the ranks of academic sites that are used because of their effectiveness and reliability such as Quizlet, Vocabulary and Khan Academy. Grammarly is a trump card that every student should utilize and Grammarly will help them strive to become competent and engaging writers on their own.